One year at Hogwarts with Rose Weasley
by pottergroupie
Summary: Rose Weasley has a bit of an attitude problem though she thinks that her problem is everyone around her doesn't get the term "personal space". This year at Hogwarts, she finds herself the victim of sadistic pranks. She finds herself in the midst of a perplexing love triangle while trying to claw herself away from her cousin Dominique's needy grasp. You can expect a hectic year.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all! This is my first fanfiction so please go easy on me! Here's a little introduction to the story:**

_Rose Weasley has a bit of an attitude problem. Though she thinks that everyone around her just doesn't get the term "personal space". She hates that she can't break up with her annoying boyfriend Devin; she hates that her cousin Dominique is always fluttering in her face; she hates that she barely talks to her best friend Teddy Lupin any more since he got married to Dominique's older sister Victoire and above all, she hates Scorpius Malfoy. _

_But this year at Hogwarts won't be all that quiet (though Rose likes to point out that having a family full of Weasleys makes you phase out the word 'quiet' from your vocabulary). Rose will find herself in more danger she ever thought she could be as she enters her sixth year. She'll find herself learning about things like life, love and tolerance._

* * *

I kick off my covers and sit upright on the bed. Next to me, Dominique is sleeping comfortably and I can hear the faint sounds of her breathing. My hairs stick to my forehead which kind of pisses me off because it means I will wake up grotty and gross. Grumbling silently underneath my breath, I reach over to our bedside table for my wand. I don't need it but I always felt insecure and vulnerable without.

I shove my wand into my pyjama bottoms and carefully lift myself off the bed so I don't wake Dominique. On my way to the door, I almost trip over my school books and my sleeping cat Nietzsche who is always lurking around the house. I creep downstairs and reach for the front door.

I skip outside and onto the street. We are in central London, staying at the Potters' and by "we" I mean the whole Weasley clan. From Hugo and me to Uncle Percy's girls Molly and Lucy. We always stayed at the Potters during the last two weeks of every summer before school started. It is pretty hectic but all in all, we always had a good time. How did it work? Well, we're Weasleys. We can squash in together anywhere though to be fair, we don't have to squash in together here; the place is huge. It is a nice old-fashioned Victorian town house located in a predominantly muggle part of London. On the outside, it looks rather small but a few spells and charms made the inside lavishly massive.

I have to share a room with Dominique which is actually pretty fun. We once snuck into James' room and burnt his eyebrows off by accident while trying to place a few fire crackers underneath his pillow. Aunt Ginny was furious until she actually saw James and burst into maniacal laughter.

I smile at the memory. Despite it being summer, London is actually quite chilly at 3:30 in the morning. Crossing the road, I plant myself on a park bench. I haven't been sleeping well the entire week. I feel a nervous knot in my stomach. I am anxious about returning to Hogwarts. Don't get me wrong, Hogwarts is my favourite place in the world; it is my home. I spend more time there than I do with my parents. But I dread my return. Why? Because I have to dump my boyfriend Devin Collin. We have been dating for almost a year. He asked me out after one of our prefect meetings in fifth year. Yes, I was a prefect. No one was surprised which should have been flattering but all I got was a pat on the back and an enthusiastic "Nice!" for congratulations. Anyway, we dated through the whole of fifth year which was a lot longer than we should have.

About two or three months after we started going out, I started noticing little habits and things that annoyed the hell out of me. He kept laughing at everything I said even when I wasn't joking, he slurped his pumpkin juice so loudly that the whole Gryffindor table looked over, he kept watching me do my Ancient Runes homework and correcting me as I went and he doesn't wear socks. It is so weird.

I'm not the type that is good with confrontations. When I feel an argument brewing, I will literally leave the room and disappear for a few hours. I have spent the last four months trying to break up with Devin but I kept chickening out when the moment came.

So here I am, sitting on a slightly sticky park bench completely alone and freaking out the night before leaving for Hogwarts. I pull my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around my body. How does one initiate a break up? What does one do afterwards? Do you shake hands? It seems kind of rude just leaving them without some kind of gesture.

It's not difficult to guess that I've never broken up with anyone before in my life. As a matter of fact, I've never had a boyfriend before Devin so that explains my ineptitude in the art of crushing someone's heart.

_Stop it, _I think to myself, _you're pathetic; freaking out over breaking up with boyfriend? Really? You've hit a new low Rose. _Sighing as I stand up, I pull my night robe closer to my center. I turn around and start walking back to the house while putting my hands into my pocket to feel for my wand.

"Help me," Startled, I spin around and see a woman standing in front of me. She looks awful. Her clothes are dishevelled and her face is wet with tears. After recovering from my shock, I notice how pretty she is. She looks to be in her mid thirties and she has wonderful dark brown hair that flows over her shoulders and stops at her waist. Even in her dreadful state, her hair still looks beautiful. She is slender and quite tall with an olive complexion.

I pull myself out of my dumbstruck state, "Sorry?" The woman limps towards me and I can't help myself but take a few steps backwards.

"Please," she says through her heavy sobs. "You're one of them, aren't you? I can see your wand in your pocket."

She is a muggle. A muggle who knows I am a witch. I draw my wand feeling alarmed. "Who are you? What do you want?"

She put her hands up which I have just noticed, are bruised and cut. "My name is Cassandra. I'm being followed."

All of a sudden I feel silly. A muggle is making me uneasy. I can easily render her unconscious if I tried. I put my wand away, "By who?"

"One of your kind." She hesitates before answering and seems to avoid using the term "witch" or "wizard" like they were taboo. "I need somewhere to hide. I know I'm not like you but please help me." She starts crying again. Oh God, not this again. I mentally scold myself for being mean.

"How do you know about witches and wizards?" I ask. I am thoroughly confused; we have laws to make sure muggles don't find out about our world.

"I-" She stops abruptly and seems to be listening to something. I listen as well and that is when I notice a strange sound. A ticking sound, like the strange sounds of muggle clocks that granddad collects only faster. The ticks come consecutively with pauses so brief you can't hear the silence in between. Cassandra looks terrified. She turns and runs.

"Wait," I call after her and try to run but I'm in slippers and she is already gone. In the midst of yelling indecencies, I stop and listen again. The ticking sound seems to be getting further and further away until I can't hear it at all.

**So there you have it, I hope you liked it! Please don't forget to review, I would really like some tips on how to improve my story! Feel free to leave any suggestions as to where you want the story to go/what you want to be included in it. **** I'll try to update in the next day or so :) Okay, thanks for reading! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2! It's kind of long, but personally I prefer long chapters, I had this mostly written up before. Hope you enjoy!**

I look in the mirror and swear aloud. My auburn hair is bent and sticking up in all the wrong places. I try to use water to tame it but it just made my hair look oily which is really gross. I wish I could use magic to fix it up but I'm not allowed to use magic outside of school. Deciding that I do not want to look like hippogriff poo, I take off my clothes and start the bath.

The door to the bathroom bursts open, "Oh geez Rose, you've been in here for thirty minutes. Rehearsing your break up with Devin? Or are you hoping to hide out in here for the remainder of your life so you won't have to?" Dominique bats her eye lashes and smiles sweetly.

"Get out Dominique!" I sink lower into the water, trying for decency's sake to cover myself in bubbles.

"No need to be shy, cousin." She takes out her make up bag and starts applying Felicity Felcon's Fantastical Foundation. Not that she needs it. She's part veela which means that she's painstakingly gorgeous.

Out of no where, Albus Potter pokes his head in the bathroom, "I heard someone scream, is everything alright?"

"Al! Get out! Can't you see I'm taking a bath?"

"Yeah, Al," Dominique chips in, "you have no respect for boundaries."Al looks embarrassed and mumbles sorry on his way out.

"Speaking of boundaries," I say as I glare at her, "can you please let me bathe in peace?"

She acts as though I haven't said a thing. Flicking her blond hair over her shoulder, she sits down beside the tub. "So, how are you going to do it?"

"Do what?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"You know - how are you going to break up with Dev?"

I cross my arms and lean back in the tub, "Uh - I don't know, it's not like I've planned out the whole conversation out in my head." Which I actually have many times. Every conversation ended up with Devin turning me into a teacup and throwing me at the wall.

"Well, I want you to know that you have my full support."

"Thanks," I say rolling my eyes, "now can you please go?"

"You're doing the right thing."

"Yeah, got it, see you later."

"But you know, let him down easy. Maybe soften the usual catty attitude and go for a - I don't know - a regretful attitude?"

Really? "Don't worry I got it, I'll start it off with 'Devin, I regret to inform you that our relationship must be terminated...'"

Dominique hits me across the head, "This is not funny Rose!" I think it's pretty funny but I guess _someone_ is in a mood. "You always back out at the last minute because you're scared that he will start crying, and you hate emotional situations."

"That is not true!" I say defensively.

She snorts, "Rose, when Molly started crying because her friends went to Hogsmeade without her, you smashed your cauldron so you could go clean up the mess instead of deal with Molly."

"Her crying surprised me so my hand slipped," I mumble though it is hardly convincing.

"Right." She stands up and continues applying her make up. "I worry about you, Rose."

* * *

I stalk downstairs into the dining room to eat breakfast. It is a quarter to 10. We need to leave in 45 minutes.

"Gooooood morning, Rose," James has a piece of toast wedged in his mouth and another in his hand.

"G'morning," I say exasperatedly though it is barely 'good'. He pushes past me and leaves the room, undoubtedly to pack. Every year, James would start packing 30 minutes before we were meant to leave. Every year. I guess this year is a 15 minutes improvement.

I turn to face the rest of my family at the breakfast table. Everyone is down except for Dominique. Typical. "Good morning Rosie," Aunt Ginny smiles at me.

"Good morning Aunt Ginny, what's for breakfast?"

"Anything you want," jokes Uncle Harry, he has the Daily Prophet in front of him and he scoops spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth, "Ginny made enough food to feed the whole of London."

"Which is just enough to feed a few Hogwarts students," Aunt Ginny replies. We all laugh and I am cheered considerably. My "meeting" with Dominique left me kind of grumpy.

"Hey Rose! Can you pass me the maple syrup?" I hear Albus from behind me. I grab the bottle and turn around to pass it on; instead, I run into someone and drop it.

I scowl, "Sorry." Looking up, I see the pale thin face of Scorpius Malfoy.

"Did Rose Weasley just apologise?" Scorpius asks in mock surprise.

Yeah, apologising for your birth and consequent existence_. _I should've known that Scorpius would be there. He comes every morning of the 1st of September to go to Kings Cross with our family. He is there because of Albus. Albus is the only member of the family that isn't in Gryffindor. So Al and Scorpius are both in Slytherin and despite having fathers who hate each other, they somehow became best friends.

Scorpius and I have a complicated relationship being that it is practically non-existent except for the fact that we are constantly going out of our ways to piss each other off. He always has a permanent smirk on his face that I seriously want to slap. His white blond hair is always sticking up and messy, which I suspect he purposely tried to achieve. He is a head taller than me and he always makes a point of trying to exaggerate how far he has to look down in order to see my face.

"Come on, Scorp, it's not even 10. Don't wind up Rose before it's noon, give her a break," Al calls out. I pick up the maple syrup and give it to Al.

I load my plate with pancakes and toast and go out into the backyard patio to have my breakfast. I sit myself down. Lily Potter joins me about five minutes later.

"Hi Rose," she says happily, "are you excited about going back to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, totally," I say lamely. Lily Potter is the nicest person you will ever meet. She is just so gentle and kind, I swear I saw her giving a eulogy for a dead something-or-other bug-like thing last year.

"I wonder who is going to be the new Muggle Studies teacher this year," she asks while she chews on her carrot sticks. She's vegan and the year before she swore that she would never hurt another living thing if she could absolutely avoid it.

"I don't know," I answer. I don't know but whoever it is probably can't beat Miss Smith. She is a squib but she absolutely loves muggles and is fascinated by them. Even so, she is getting old and so she decided to spend her remaining years relaxing and enjoying retirement. We sit together and eat in silence for a while until Fred Weasley comes over.

"You're in fifth year now, little cousin," Fred sits down with us and flings his arm around Lily's shoulders, "You're entering your OWLs year, oooooooh."

"Come on, Fred," I say laughing, "stop trying to scare her. It wasn't that bad. Besides, shouldn't you be thinking about your NEWTs instead of scaring fifth years?"

Fred is Uncle's George's son and he also is one of those guys that you can't help liking. He's always joking around and being a total idiot. He's one of James' best friends as well. They're always causing trouble. They are unstoppable and the whole school loves them, even when they flooded Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and Myrtle roamed the castle annoying everyone for a week after that.

"Pfft, I'll worry about that later," Fred waves it off and takes a hearty bite out of his toast.

James comes running from the house and stops in front of us, "Yo Freddie, I need your help."

"Mum told you to pack last night James," Lily says patiently.

"Yeah, well I was busy," Looking down at his watch and cringing, James bolts toward the house again. Freddie sighs before getting up and following James inside.

"Is it really that stressful, Rose?" Lily asked quietly, she looks genuinely worried and I have to admit that her worrying is adorable.

"Well, it's a little towards the end of the year, but if you stay on top of things before exams then you'll be fine." I smile what I hope is a reassuring smile at her. In fact, fifth year was the most stressful year of my life. I have no idea how I was going to survive NEWTs. "If you're struggling then just talk to me and I'll try to help."

"Thanks, Rose." She visibly relaxes. Scrapping the last of the food on her plate into her mouth, she stands up and goes back into the house.

"So you've got a soft side after all," Scorpius sits himself down next to me.

"Do you have to be such a prick all the time, Malfoy?" I ask.

"No," he says looking at me with amusement, "but it's fun."

"Well, you need to get yourself a better hobby."

He laughs. "At least I've got one. What's your hobby? Lying around moping all day?"

"No..." I say defensively.

"No, it's not your hobby or no, you don't mope around all day?"

"No, it's not my hobby," I say pointedly, turning myself away from him. "I've just had a lot on my mind lately, that's all."

"Ah," he says in understanding. "Planning how you're going to break poor Devin's heart?"

"How do you know about that?" I ask, outraged. I made Dominique promise she wouldn't tell a soul.

He laughs again; he seems to be in a very cheerful mood which puts me in a dark one. "It's not hard to figure out. You're always rolling your eyes or changing the subject when he opens his mouth."

"No, I don't!"

He nods his head with a satisfied smile on his face, "Yes, you do. Though I'm surprised you've put up with him for so long."

"What is with the sudden interest in my love life?" I ask crisply.

He shrugs, "Oh Rosie, as sassy and annoying as you are, you fill me with delight at your antics."

"Where's Albus?" I ask, trying not-so-subtly to change the subject.

He shrugged, "Inside."

"I gathered that much," I snap.

He grins and I had to admit that while he was annoying the hell out of me, it is pretty cute. Not pretty cute, only a little bit cute. "You never disappoint when it comes to being bitchy. He's inside hanging out with Teddy."

"What?" I stand up, "Teddy is here?"

"Yeah," Scorpius says slowly, "he just got here like 5 minutes ago."

I stare at Scorpius for a few seconds and then run back into the dining room. Teddy looks up and smiles when he sees me, "There's my favourite Weasley."

I almost squeal. Running across the room I practically leap onto him as I pull him into a big hug.

He pulls me away at arm's length and studies me, "You look kind of pale, how are you?"

I am always pale. "Great! I say, "I've missed you! I want to hear about everything you've been up to since the wedding."

He chuckles, "Of course, but we better get moving. We need to leave the house in 15."

"Really, Rose? We haven't seen you in two weeks and it's like we don't even exist to you," I look behind Teddy and see my mum and dad.

I run into their arms and hug them as well. "Mum, dad, I've missed you too."

"Where's Hugo?" Mum asks.

"I'm here!" Hugo comes bouncing from the living room and mum lets go of me to hug him.

"How you doing, Ron?" Uncle Harry comes and slaps Dad on the back. Uncle Harry, Dad and Mum have been friends since their first year at Hogwarts. I have always been amazed by their friendship.

"Good, good," Dad mumbles. Our parents finally let go of Hugo and me. Mum hugs Uncle Harry and then Aunt Ginny.

I turn back to the door I came in from and see Scorpius lingering awkwardly in the doorway. I have an idea why he is kind of cautious around my parents. My dad openly hates Draco Malfoy, Scorpius' father. I snigger at his discomfort.

Dad isn't mean to Scorpius or anything, he just doesn't go out of his way to be friendly. Still, I can understand why Scorpius was looking like he wanted to collapse into dust. He was a Malfoy in Weasley territory.

"Is everyone ready?" Aunt Ginny asks.

All the Hogwarts students dart upstairs to grab their trunks. Teddy followed me up to help. "I haven't seen you in months, Rose. You've grown."

"Thank Goodness, I was afraid I would be stuck at this height for the rest of my life," I joke. "Where's Victoire?"

Teddy looks away, "She's at her grandparents' house in France."

I frown, "How long is she there for?"

"A few weeks, I think." He got up and starts pacing the room. He makes a show of examining my things but I know that he wasn't really paying attention.

"Is everything alright, Teddy?" I leave my trunk and go up to him. He stops pacing and looks at me.

"Everything is okay," he says though only half-convincingly.

"You know you can talk to me about anything right?" I say, in case he had forgotten that we have been best friends for as long as I could remember.

"Of course I know that, Rose." He smiles and then hesitates before speaking again, "It's just that... Victoire..." Teddy looks incredibly uncomfortable, "She wants to have kids."

I am shocked, why would wanting children cause a rift in a relationship? I always thought children brought people together. "What's so bad about that? You're married, isn't that something reasonable for her to want?"

"Yeah," he scratches the back of his head. "I just don't think I'm ready to be a dad." He sits down at my desk and rested his face in the palm of his hand. "I'm twenty-four. Victoire is only twenty-two. I just don't think that we'll be able to... Handle it."

"I think you should have more faith in yourself," I say, "and in Victoire too."

"I do have faith, it's just... Don't worry about it, you still have a while until you worry about these kind of things. Let's get going."

I don't like the way he said "you still have a while", like I'm an incompetent, naive kid. Sure, he's eight years older than me; but he's talking like I have at least another three decades before I catch up with him. I was always happy when I saw Teddy but for the first time ever, I am angry and I want him to go back to Victoire. "Sure," I say, "let's get going. I mean that's what you do when you don't believe in people right? When Victoire wanted kids, you packed your bags and left for London. Now when I'm trying to help you, you try to pack me up and ship me off to Hogwarts."

I know that what I just said crossed the line and I know that it was completely unfair and horrible of me. But I also know that I'm mad and I want to get even. I'm sick of it, all I want is my best friend back and instead, I get some dude telling me that I don't understand the way of the world. I would talk to Uncle Percy if I want to be treated like that.

Teddy looks hurt; he opens his mouth to say something but before I give him a chance I abruptly grab my stuff, banging my trunk on the furniture so I can't give him a chance to say something else and leave. Nietz follows behind me purring. I forgot to feed him. I scoop him up into my arms, juggling between him and my luggage.

Downstairs, everyone is gathering in the front hall with their trunks and Uncle Harry and Dad are loading the enchanted car with our stuff together. The car was modified to fit a pretty much limitless amount of luggage in the trunk. On the outside, it looks like a mini van but on the inside, it's an exotic eighteen-seater lounge.

I look back towards the stairs and see Teddy going down. He doesn't look at me and I know that he is upset. I don't need to be a legilimen to tell, his smile is strained as he talks to Uncle Harry and he keeps running his hands through his hair which he always does when he's stressed out about something.

Not wanting to face him, I go out on the street to the park opposite the house. Memories from the night before come back to me and I stop. I strain my ears to listen for a ticking sound, but all I can hear is the noisy engines of muggle cars and a dog barking from a few houses down.

I don't know if I had actually seen a muggle girl. I mean - I know that I saw _a _girl but the more that I think about it, the more unlikely it is that she's a muggle. The Ministry would have never let a random muggle run about screaming wizards to witches they meet in the middle of the night. Besides, if she is a muggle and she knows about us, she must be a relative of a witch of wizard. If that is the case, why can't she have protection from them?

Unless it is a member of her family chasing her... But if a family member is hunting her, she doesn't stand a chance. I know that if I tried to run away, my mother would find be able to find me in under an hour.

The whole business is incredibly suspicious.

I decide to look in the Daily Prophet to see if there were any news of a girl being attacked or kidnapped. You can always tell if it's a wizard's doing. There's a copy in the kitchen but I find myself reluctant to go back inside.

I put Nietz on the ground. "Come on you ugly, annoying cat. Go to the car first," I say exasperatedly. Nietz hisses and runs off.

"Why aren't you inside worshipping Teddy Lupin?" Scorpius walks towards me and he looks slightly annoyed. I don't know what his problem is, I am pretty sure I won the trophy for worst morning ever.

"I'm really not in the mood for any more of your crap, Scorpius," I hiss.

He frowns, "You were ecstatic about fifteen minutes ago. What happened?"

I want to hex him. I want to hex everyone that comes near me. "Nothing," I snap.

Scorpius awkwardly goes to stand next to me, "Um - can I help you?" He says it like a waiter taking a customer's order. He is trying to be nice. I think he can sense the bitchiness radiating off me and wants to dilute it before we have to spend hours stuck in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express together with my cousins. Oh, and Devin too.

"As a matter of fact," I say, the idea forming in my head, "can you go get the Daily Prophet from the kitchen?"

"Why can't you get it yourself?" he asks dryly.

"You offered to help," I retort.

"Fine," he says sighing like he already regrets offering to help me, "be right back."

Scorpius does a small jog back inside and I smile. I appreciate that he is trying to help but I don't forget for one moment how annoying he is every other time.

He comes back pretty quickly and hands me the newspaper, I shove it into my backpack without opening it. With much difficulty, I manage to croak, "Thanks."

He grins widely, I have never seen him look so triumphant. "You are very welcome, Rosie." He trilled the 'r' in 'very'. "I guess this incident makes us best friends now, huh?"

I scoff, "Hardly."

"So I guess we'll just be great friends that are going to get matching bracelets?" he teases.

I laugh, the whole notion was ridiculous. Scorpius and I friends? I think I will drop dead the day that happens. "Totally," I grin, "we can even plait each other's hair and gossip about boys."

He laughs and I can tell he thinks the whole idea is impossible as well, "Sounds like a date." He winks.

"Rose, Scorpius, let's go." Uncle Harry calls. I look to see if anyone saw us talking other than Uncle Harry. No, no one. Albus and the others would give me so much crap. They think that I'm unreasonable when it comes to hating on Scorpius and it would give them so much satisfaction to see me actually being civil towards a Malfoy.

We walk to the car and I get in after Scorpius. In a few hours, we will be at Hogwarts again.

**Hope you enjoyed reading it! Please review if you can, I really would love your feedback and even suggestions as to what you want to see in the story! Thanks! If you're not really into long chapters please also say that in a review! My chapters will probably be around 3,000 words each. So because of this, they might take a few days longer to publish. I'll try to get chapter 3 up in the next 2-3 days :-)**


	3. Chapter 3

We are nested in our own compartment: James, Albus, Scorpius, Dominique, Fred, Devin and me. The other Weasleys are with their friends.

I sit stoically next to Devin. Admittedly, Devin is quite good-looking. He has dirty blond hair and deep blue-green eyes. He is pretty tall and built as well. He is always bragging about how he does laps in the black lake every morning before class.

"Baby, can you spot me some cash?" Devin asks leaning into to me. I hear the familiar call of the food trolley lady outside our compartment.

James and Albus choke at Devin's use of "baby" while Scorpius snorts. Most of the boys at our school dislike Devin. I used to hear them talking about how obnoxious and annoying he is all the time in the Great Hall. The girls however, all swoon. He is smart and he is handsome. My best friend at Hogwarts Julia Bloch doesn't understand why I want to break up with him. She's always saying stuff like "it's not like you're going to marry the guy, lighten up Rose". Julia usually sits with us in our compartment but this year she is sitting with her boyfriend Daniel Hopkirk and his seventh year mates.

"Sure," I mumble dully, I reach into the pockets of my robes and give Devin a galleon. He gets up and kisses me on the cheek before disappearing behind the compartment door. If someone else had asked me, I would've shoved the galleon up their nose but the least I could do for a guy I am about to break up with is buy him a couple of chocolate frogs.

"He's such a tool," James says with disgust. "As if he..." He shudders and makes a face. Albus looks like he wants to beat someone up while Scorpius just stares at the compartment wall behind me. Dominique and Fred are playing wizard's chess but I know they were listening in on the conversation.

"Leave him alone," I say in a low voice.

"Why?" James say tauntingly, "Is it because you're so deeply in love with him that you can't bear the thought of our poor opinions? Or is it because you're breaking up with him?"

"Shhh," I say checking to make sure Devin isn't at the door, "how does everyone know about that?"

James scoffs, "Rose, can you see your face every time he's near?"

"I don't even know how to answer that."

James looks thoughtful for a minute and then laughs, "You know what I mean. You look murderous. Also, Julia told me you were breaking up with Dev."

"Julia told you?" I am shocked and pissed. "Did she tell you while you two were hooking up in the Room of Requirement last year?" Julia and James kind of had a thing, well, she thought they did anyway. They hooked up once after James' seventeenth birthday party. It was just a fling but Julia told the whole school they were in a "serious and committed relationship". When James heard, he straightened her out and she didn't take it well. She dated half of the fifth year in five months.

Albus and Scorpius laugh. James looks slightly embarassed and mumbles, "Never mind I said anything."

Dominique's knight smashes Fred's king. "Ha-ha! You owe me two galleons, my friend," she exclaims. She looks at Fred smugly.

He looks outraged at the loss but rummages through his trouser pockets and throws her two gold coins anyway. "We're having a rematch when we get to Hogwarts."

"Whatever," she says while examining her nails, "I like slaying."

Devin comes back and smiles broadly as he looks at me. I muse over whether or not my hair is long enough to turn into a noose. "Here you go, babe," he says as he hands me a pumpkin pasty. He looks really proud of himself, like he is freaking Boyfriend of the Year of something for buying me a pumpkin pasty. With _my _money.

"Uh, thanks," I say, taking it.

He sits down next to me again and puts his arm around my shoulders. The whole compartment is silent for about ten minutes. "I think I'm going to get changed into my school robes," I say, trying to get away from Devin's arm.

"Yeah, me too," Dominique says as she stands up. I have a feeling she is also trying to escape the awkwardness that lingers in the air when Devin is around.

We leave the compartment and start walking toward the end of the train. "You have to break up with him, Rose."

"You think I don't know that?"

Dominique sighs and leaves to get changed in one of the changing cubicles.

I choose another cubicle and go inside. Locking the door, I plant myself on the wooden bench that are meant for your robes. I pull out the Daily Prophet and scan the whole thing. Nothing. Nothing about a girl being kidnapped or anything. There is a whole section on Goblin diplomacy but there is nothing weird or remotely similar to what I had in mind.

I frown with frustration. Who the hell was that girl? What if something happened to her? What if someone really was chasing her and now she's dead in an alley somewhere? _The Daily Prophet would've reported it, _I remind myself mentally. It isn't like I can do something anyway. She is gone. All I know about her is that her name is Cassandra.

I quickly change into my robes and go back to our compartment. Devin greets me with a toothy smile when I get back. Why does he have to smile so much?

Thoughts of the girl from last night plague me for the rest of the train ride. My mind is going into overdrive. I want to know who she is and I am going to find out.

* * *

As usual, when we get to Hogwarts, self-drawn carriages are waiting for us. Al, Scorpius, Dominique and of course, Devin is with me. We are mostly quiet on the way to the castle except for Devin's whistling which is another annoying habit that I might want to point out. I should compile a list: listed numerically and single spaced.

When we reach the castle, we all stumble off the carriage. Well, I stumble anyway. Devin doesn't even look back to see if I'm okay, he just keeps with his stupid whistling.

Scorpius and Al are chatting happily about quidditch, laughing loudly. I turn around to look for Dominique only to see she's gone off with her friend Maya.

Devin slows down to catch up with me, "So are you excited about Muggle Studies this year?"

"Yeah," I say, happy that for once, what he is saying isn't pissing me off. "I wonder who the new teacher will be."

He nods excitedly. "I can't wait!" He practically squeals. "I'm so glad that they finally got rid of that squib."

I stop and glare at him, "Excuse me?"

"Come on, you have to admit that she wasn't... She wasn't one of us. People like her shouldn't be allowed to be a part of our world." He looks confused at my angry reaction which infuriates me even more.

"Okay, listen here," I shout. I point my finger at him accusingly, "First of all, Miss Smith _chose _to leave so they didn't 'get rid' of her and if they did then I'll be questioning why Hogwarts is so prestigious and perceived as one of the greatest magical schools in the world because Miss Smith is _brilliant_, do you understand? Any school who can't see that, or any _person _for that matter, is downright incompetent. And secondly, what does it matter if she's a squib? She is still as clever as we are. She's got as many rights to be at Hogwarts as we do." I suck in a deep breath. My face is hot; I feel people staring at us.

Albus and Scorpius walk up to us cautiously. "Hey, is everything alright here?" Al asks quietly. Devin doesn't look at me and his face is bright red.

"Everything is not alright!" I yell, I don't know why but all of my anger from everything that had happened during the day just spills over. "Miss Smith is one of nicest, most intelligent professors I've ever met! How dare you talk about her like that? How dare you talk to her like she's beneath you?"

Scorpius puts his hands up in front of his chest and slowly approaches me, "Okay Rose, I know you're mad but why don't we talk about this calmly? You're tired and hungry, let's get some food in you."

"I'm not tired and hungry!" Why couldn't he see that I was genuinely angry, not because I was food-deprived but because of what Devin said?

He walks up and leans down, resting his lips lightly on the top of my ear, "I know, but this isn't the place and this isn't the way you should be dealing with it."

He leans back and puts a hand on my shoulder making me feel warm. The feeling was different to the rage I felt only moments ago. The anger was sizzling, this is soothing.

I back away a few steps and start walking towards the castle on my own, with what feels like a hundred pairs of eyes on my back.

**So there you go! How was it? Let me know what you think in a review! I would love to here your feedback :-) **


	4. Chapter 4

The start-of-term feast was like how it was every year. I sat with Julia. When I sat down next to her and her latest boyfriend Daniel, she gave me a funny look telling me that she knew what had happened outside. I gave her a look in return that said "Later. Okay?" She nodded and went back to making out with Daniel.

Usually, I don't sit with them because I prefer not to third-wheel and they preferred to just make out rather than talk. I tried to make conversation at first but then I just gave up. But as boring as it was sitting with them, I didn't sit with anyone else because Devin hates Julia and refuses to sit with her during meals. I don't know why he hates her, he never really told me but I've always assumed he hates her for the same reason other people do: she's so aggressively flirty and she doesn't shut up in class.

As soon as we get back to the Gryffindor common room, Julia practically tackles me to the side. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" She asks. Shouldn't I be the one who's asking that?

"How do you know what happened?"

Julia arches an eyebrow. "Everyone knows about it. You're a hot topic of conversation at school now. I can't believe you were so insensitive to Devin."

I laugh harshly, "Please, Devin is so thick I doubt he even registered what I was saying."

"I can bet he did know what you were saying," she snaps. I don't know why she's sticking up for him.

"Do you know what _he _said?" I demand. "He said that because Miss Smith is a squib, she doesn't deserve to be a part of Hogwarts."

Julia hesitates. Despite all her vices, I know how strongly Julia insists that we are all equal: squibs, muggle-borns and purebloods. I think this is the only reason I've been friends with her for so long. She isn't completely two dimensional. "What he said was disgusting," she agrees. "But there were better ways to handle the situation than explode in front of a mass of people."

"So that's it?" I say coldly. "You're pissed because I _publicly_ yelled at Devin? Because I've 'damaged my reputation'?"

"Oh bloody hell, Rose! When will you get it through your thick skull? You. Are. A. Person. And people need other people! You need friends Rose! You can't just go through life without others. Now people think you're some kind of weird social-phobic freak."

"Well the damage is done. I don't care. Hopefully Devin will even break up with me," I say with a shrug.

"I doubt _that_," she sniggers. "He's completely in love with you. If anything, you just made him too afraid to start another fight with you. So him doing the dumping is off the table now."

"Please don't use the 'L' word and why the hell would he want to be with someone like me?"

"Because... You're kind of like him sometimes."

My face twitches, "What? I am nothing like him!"

She shakes her head and runs off to hang out with Daniel by the fireplace.

"Hey! Rose! Over here!" I hear someone call. I turn around and find Dominique waving me over. She's sitting with Scorpius on some cushions on the ground. Scorpius looks at me stonily while I walk over. I turn away from him and deliberately maintain eye contact with Dominique.

"So I heard about your little meltdown today."

"I didn't have a meltdown," I growl. I expected Dominique would ambush me about this.

"Hey, don't get snappy with me," she says defensively. "Devin has probably got the message by now though. At least there's a silver lining in all of this."

"Well, thank the Lord she didn't mortify and publicly humiliate Devin for nothing," Scorpius says sarcastically. He looks at me right in the eye which makes me feel small, making me angry. Who does he think he is to judge me?

"You're such a hypocrite, Malfoy," I spit. "You and Al are always going on about how annoying he is. What's your problem?"

"My problem is you, Rose." He says heatedly. "You have this delusion that you're the only person in this world who has any sense. You treat everyone around you like they're cardboard cut outs that you can beat up and throw around whenever you feel like it. I may not like Devin, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be an outright jerk to him just because I need someone to take out my anger on."

"I am not just lashing out!" I say angrily. "You heard what he said right?"

"Aren't you listening to me Rose?!" He asks, he looks hysterical. "I'm not disagreeing with the fact that what he said was wrong! I'm saying what _you _did was wrong."

"Hey Scorp," Dominique says while touching his arm gently, "cut her some slack. She's had a rough day." Dominique looks at me warmly. "Do you want to go paint our nails or something and talk?"

"No, thanks," I answer quietly, "I think I'll go to bed. I'm tired."

Dominique looks hurt about my rejection but quickly pastes a smile on her face. "Sure, good night."

Scorpius doesn't say anything as I get up and leave. I don't expect him to. I start walking to the stair case that leads to the dorms and spy Devin chatting with Kenna Burrow, a girl from fifth year who everyone knows has a massive crush on Devin. For some reason, I feel a twisting knot in my stomach. Julia and Scorpius are right. I am horrible.

* * *

I lay in my bed while listening to the laughter coming from the common room. I curl up into a ball and hug my pillow. In one day, I managed to screw up everything. I managed to ruin my friendship with Teddy. I managed to shock even Julia. I managed to chase Devin away. I managed to make Scorpius think of me even worse than he did before and I managed to hurt Dominique; the only person who hadn't judged me and the only person who wanted to help.

**A shorter chapter, this one! I'm so sorry, I've just started school today (I'm in year 12) and I've already got heaps of homework. If you see any mistakes, please forgive me. I didn't have as much time as I usually did to edit. As soon as I'm free, I'll go back and fix it all up! I know that this chapter has been kind of sad and angry but I promise it'll be back to normal in the next chapter! Anyway, I'll promise to get the next chapter up as soon as I can! :) And don't forget to leave a review if you can xo**

**Oh and thank you to Catfish for your review! I was so happy reading it :')**


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